Row between China and Egypt over impostor Sphinx rekindled after replica statue returns

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A row over a full-size replica of the Great Sphinx in China is flaring up again after the Egyptian Government accused the Chinese owners of the statue of intellectual property theft and cultural violation.

Key Points
Replica Sphinx built as part of a movie set in 2014 was taken down after Egypt complained
It is just shy of the 73-metre long, 20-metre high original, and even has the broken nose
Egypt has taken the matter to UNESCO citing cultural theft
Ashraf Mohi Al-Din, the general manager of Giza Pyramid Plateau in Egypt, which manages the historic site, told media that action was underway to have the replica dismantled again.

"The Ministry of Antiquities is taking measures through UNESCO because it is a violation of Egypt's intellectual property and eventually China will remove the fake Sphinx," he told The Daily Telegraph in the UK.

A woman climbs a tower in front of a full-scale replica of the Sphinx, which is part of an unfinished theme park in China.
PHOTO: A fake Great Sphinx in China at the centre of a row over Egyptian culture even has the famously broken nose of the original statue. (Reuters)
The controversy dates back to 2014 when the 20-metre-high, 60-metre-long Sphinx replica was built in Hebei province as part of a film set.

It was placed in an area that was also a theme park managed by the city authorities of Shijiazhuang, according to Chinese media reports.

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Egypt complained at the time to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) that the statue was an unauthorised copy of the original limestone statue which has sat near the Pyramids of Giza for more than 4,000 years.

The real Great Sphinx is listed by UNESCO as a world heritage item along with the Pyramids of Giza because of their outstanding universal value and world-wide recognition as historical and cultural monuments.

After the complaint the city authorities agreed to dismantle the replica once filming was finished, with workers removing the head by 2016, however the sphinx has now reappeared — prompting renewed outrage from Egypt.

While one of Egypt's concerns is that the impostor has a number of inaccurate features — including being 13 metres shorter than the 73-metre original — some effort to stay true to the original has been made including replicating the Great Sphinx's famously broken nose.

The replica sphinx is one of several historical landmarks that have popped up in China in recent years including copies of the Louvre, Parthenon and the Eiffel Tower.

Is this cultural appropriation? It seems like a homage to me. I mean can France complain about the 24 countries that have Eiffel tower replicas (10 of which are in the US)*

How does a replica invalidate the original? You go to see the Sphinx to see history which no replica will have, you see the replica if you just want to see a big cool thing or if you can't afford to see the real thing in person. In either case, the presence of the replica has next to no effect on a person wanting to see the original. If it weren't a print of a famous painting would draw as well as the original and this is clearly not the case.

Part of a broader trend. China's been making fake cities and fake landmarks for a while, and it's a deliberate attempt at imperial flexing by the CPC, mostly for the home audience. "We're great, the whole world is our playground, you don't need to go there, we'll bring it here." Same theme as previous empires' artifact theft, just without the actual theft. Slate has a pretty good article.

Cultural appropriation is a mostly-useless neologism. Better to just call things what they are and not try to jam them into categories that nobody can agree on anyway. Unless what you're asking is, "As a member of the American Social Justice Left, am I required to be offended by this in order to remain a member in good standing?" Which would be a pretty silly way to make moral decisions.

To be fair - the themeparks are mostly made because the average Chinese has only a week or so of holidays, and can't afford to travel that far to visit these sites. So they have theme parks you can visit at the weekend, in lieu of actual vacations. Also, it keeps the tourism money inside China.

Less imperial flexing, more economy related reasons.

A minute's thought suggests that the very idea of this is stupid. A more detailed examination raises the possibility that it might be an answer to the question "how could the Germans win the war after the US gets involved?" - Captain Seafort, in a thread proposing a 1942 'D-Day' in Quiberon Bay

Although we must not get away from ourselves and think that China's wholesale architectural appropriation is something unique to the country. It's not. All throughout history, countries on the rise have imitated the architectural iconography of the other countries or cultures they modeled themselves on. The United States was once had a penchant for replicating the architecture of Europe. All you have to do is walk through the downtown area of a big city on the country's east coast or any Ivy League campus to see building styles pilfered from various European locales and eras. For the record, in addition to China, at least 23 other countries have built replicas of the Eiffel Tower (the USA alone has 10); a phenomenon which actually got its start in the UK just one year after the original was put on public exhibition.

Pretty much lots of cultures built replicas of other cultures architecture. I mean if these countries building the replicas claimed they were responsible for the original, then I can see how it would be cultural theft. But they are not claiming that.

Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.